What we take for Granted
by Tortured Companion
Summary: Flora has been propelled back to the time of St. Mystere, what surprises her the most is the people chosen for her new life.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I no own Layton

"Honestly! Who does she think she is? Always getting in his way"

"She ought to learn to keep her mouth shut!"

"Sometimes I think he just feels sorry for her!"

All of these things were rumors, no more like blades that reached Flora's ears when she happened to overhear. Sometimes she ignored them, sometimes she told the people off, sometimes she agreed with them. Nonetheless she kept her head held up high, that is until that fateful day.

It started off simply as another refusal of being left behind, then a stalking, then a confrontation. Then it ended with Flora leaving in tears at how the irony of someone so smart being so stupid. She lay on her bed with a refusal to let tears fall; she learned three months ago that tears never accomplished anything. She laid there for a while, letting sounds consume her thoughts, she heard the wind whispering the words that could make her feel better, they were invisible words, nice, but she would never hear them coming from him. She decided after a few hours of sulking that she would go downstairs to see what he was doing, and perhaps, apologize to him, but there he was playing cards with a friend, they were talking and laughing and failed to notice her, when they did, they only heard a door slam. The man slowly walked up the stairs trying to explain what was going on, and as he walked up the stairs, Flora made a foolish wish, a wish that would probably end up in disaster. She wished that it had been someone else who discovered St. Mystere, someone else who solved all the puzzles and made it to her tower in the room, someone else who rescued her, Flora made that wish and immediately the sound of a door being open stopped and the comforting concerned words of a Father froze in mid-air, every pain, every laugh and every meal that Flora had ever shared with this man was immediately erased as the clock on her wall spun backwards, propelling her into an emptiness of a life left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**I dedicate this chapter to Nipah-Chan, The Mocking J and Dandelion Oak thank you all so much for your reviews! Also, I don't own Doll House but you should read it, it's by Anya Allyn.**

Flora never thought that when she traveled back in time, she would see the people of St. Mystere lie lifeless on the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut; she never thought that she would go to the front of the rubble of the St. Mystere tower and find Bruno, her old caretaker and friend lying dead on the cold, cold ground. She never thought that St. Mystere's tower would be reduced to rubble, with all evidence showing that everything that happened on that fateful day had already come to pass. Then again, she never thought she would travel back in time either. She sat on a nearby piece of rubble and contemplated her situation while trying not to cry, crying never accomplished anything…

"Okay." she thought "So I traveled back in time and ended up back home, except Bruno's dead, and so is everyone else, and apparently the professor already saved me and what not…so why isn't he here?" She got up and looked back at the rubble…only it wasn't rubble anymore; St. Mystere's tower was once again…St. Mystere's tower. Flora felt alarmed, she whipped her head around only to find that the villagers were still "dead"…sadness befell her once more, she didn't bother trying to see if Bruno was once again alive, she was too afraid at what she'd see.

"Time travel and wishing cannot bring back the dead."

Flora almost screamed at the familiarness of the voice, she felt weak in the knees and wanted to run away but forced herself to turn around and respond to the voice.

"Hello Lady Dahlia…"

"Honestly Flora, to think that you never even bothered to visit, not once!"

Flora remained silent as she sipped her tea. She was sitting in the manor next to a "dead" Matthew Lying on the ground . Despite his skittish expression, even his eyes were glazed over. Lady Dahlia finished pouring her tea then spoke, her voice was barely audible.

"I know what I am Flora. I've always known…"  
Flora simply nodded in return. Though she had a million questions going through her head, she felt the sadness in Lady Dahlia's voice echo throughout the empty gloomy room. But, as if reading her thoughts Lady Dahlia pasted on her old smirk then asked her whilst resting her head on her hands.

"So I bet you're wondering what you're doing here."

Flora stared at her in shock but before she could respond Lady Dahlia continued talking.

"Well so was I …" She got up and walked over to the window and looked out at the scenery, the swish of her dress and the click of her heels being the only sound throughout the room. She stood there for a moment and did something that Flora never saw her do, she smiled, genuinely her smiled melted Flora's heart, almost making her think that Lady Dahlia was more than just a mirrored image of her mother, still, Flora couldn't help but be reminded of the painting of Lady Violet, she often stared at it willing for her to leap out of the painting and pick her up, but all too soon the smile vanished as replaced by a mixture of a worried frown and a scowl, Lady Dahlia's Smile faded and so did Flora's new opinion. She looked back at Flora from the window and said.

"We're both wondering what's going on…and we both have an idea, so let's see if we can both work together.

Flora began the deduction.

"I think I may have been the cause of all this."

Lady Dahlia looked at her with curiosity. "Hmm?"

"It's just…I made a stupid wish…I wished that, well…"

"Go on dear, I'm listening."

"I WISHED THAT IT HAD BEEN SOMEONE ELSE CAME TO ST. MYSTERE!"

Flora's breaths were hard and her fist's clenched, she looked up expecting to see Lady Dahlia look at her with shock, but she was writing notes and acting calmly as though she had expected this. Well, she was made like her mother after all…she put her pen down and said.

"Well, now we know the cause. Time for the questions, one, why did you make that wish? Two are there problems going on between you and your, uh, new guardian? And three how come you never wrote or visited?"

Flora responded to neither of these, Lady Dahlia understood, she simply wasn't ready. So she nodded to let her know it was okay to ask her questions and answer Lady Dahlia's questions another time. Flora took a deep breath and let her mouth run like a motor.

"Why do you still remember everything if I made the wish? Why are you the only one left? How do you know that time travel and wishing cannot bring back the dead? And did that mean you already knew I made a wish? And why didn't you say so and how? Also, why did the tower crumble then suddenly get rebuilt?"

It was a good thing that Lady Dahlia took extra care to hear everything Flora had to say.

"Let me tell you a story…"

Flora listened intently as all her questions were answered.

"One day I was walking along when I noticed a crowd in front of the late tower, I pushed my way through to the front and there he was…Bruno's what you call him? Anyway, no one knew who he was but I, I felt a chill of horror right then and there and remained silent as they tried to pick him up to give him a proper burial, but every time they tried, they would receive some great shock, headache or act as if an invisible wall were holding them back, I don't know what he did to us to make us like that but he must have not trusted any of us, I said nothing as I watched my predictions grow truer and truer within the following months, townsfolk suddenly fell to the ground for no reason at all and when people tried to pick them up, they reacted the same way they acted when they tried to pick up Bruno, soon enough it was just me…"

Flora and Lady Dahlia both had tears in their eyes but both wiped them away before the either could see. Lady Dahlia took a breath and finished telling her story.

"I guess I was built to last, anyway, I spent my time just sitting here or walking around aimlessly waiting for my time to come, but it never came but you did. I saw you lying on your bed at the same age you were a few years ago…but I guess I should say the same age you are now. I watched you wake up and react to everything that's happened; I didn't know your wished caused this, but…"

"But what?"

"But the way you looked on this mess that happened while you were gone…you had a look of longing in your eyes a look of wishing that it would all go away, I saw you sit on that piece of rubble and was going to step out of where I was hiding, but you got up, looked behind you and gasped, I looked up and gasped too. There was St. Mystere tower rebuilt and in the flesh, er, that is to say, stone. That's when I realized that time travel had happened. However, I looked at the lifeless beings on the ground and realized that they would remain dead no matter what."

"But how do you still remember all of it? And How Did St. Mystere tower get rebuilt in just a matter of seconds?"

"Well Flora." She sighed "My guess is that a robot's or rather, a machines memory cannot be erased, as well as the wishers memory, I think that for your other question…well, time travel works on funny ways" she admired her fingernails a bit before continuing

" my hypothesis is that buildings can be rebuilt when time's dial is forced back, it probably just took time a delay to "rebuild" the tower."

"Well, what do I-"

"Do? Well you made a wish did you not?"

Flora slowly nodded.

"Then I'd say that it was time to rest the night and wait for that wish to come true, go to the tower and sleep in your own bed, I'll sleep in mine and see you off when you're new guardian takes you away from this ghost town."

Flora nodded once again; she was still confused but understood the situation a bit better than she had earlier. She turned to leave but much to her irritation Lady Dahlia's voice rang out once more.

"Oh and Flora…You'll need this"

She walked over to her and handed her the key to the tower, then as simple as it was to breathe, walked into the shadows of a once bright and happy hallway.

Flora lay in bed that night, she couldn't sleep, not like this, the whole situation reminded her of a book she once read called DOLL HOUSE, except there was no giant snake, or was there? She hid under the covers wishing that she were in her old room with a certain gentleman just a few doors down the hall. Tears flooded her eyes for the fourth time in just a matter of hours. But, she would NOT allow herself to cry. Crying accomplished nothing, it didn't bring back the smell of tea or the white tiles of her favourite kitchen or that familiar grin from that certain someone. Crying accomplished absolutely nothing at all.

But sometimes it couldn't be helped.


	3. Chapter 3

Flora remembered the first time she met one of Layton's rival's,

It was a clear August morning and she was home alone. Not that she particularly minded this time; her then guardian was at the university looking through some new artifacts from the lost city of Atlantis or something like that and unless one of those artifacts was cursed, Flora needn't worry about him being in danger. She rolled up her sleeves and prepared herself for her favored activity, cleaning. Well, that is the only thing available that she could do, she read all the books, there wasn't a television set or computer in this place and the kitchen was still under repairs from the last time she tried to cook. So, for Flora at least cleaning was the only option, for anyone other 16 year old they could go out with their friends or boyfriend or just go out, or, if they were interested in archaeology they could go the university where the relics of Atlantis were going to be unveiled at noon, any other 16 year old could do any of these things but, remember, this is Flora we're talking about. She slipped on an apron, mask and gloves then surveyed the mess before her, to her left, was stacks of paper scattered across the floor a brown window and a pile that used to be a desk, to her right was a bed that was still unmade from last Thursday and a mountains of unwashed clothes, finally, in front of her was a stain more gargantuan than the Professor's hair in his teenage years, where was she you ask? Why, in the most untidy room she could find. Professor Layton's room of course. Flora put her hands on her hips with an annoyed expression on her face while thinking to herself.

"You'd think his room would be cleaner than his office since he spends so little time in it." She sighed and stood there for a while before she finally picked up a rag and spray bottle and began scrubbing his tea coloured window…

Flora stood back and proudly looked at her work. You could see out the window, the desk's familiar shape had returned, the bed was readily made, the mountain had shrunk considerably and the stain, well, a stain's a stain but at least the rest looked nice.

"I think the Professor's going to like this." She mused happily before skipping off to put the cleaning supplies away. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the crash. For a moment, she was frozen, shoulders hunched, eyes wide open, supplies dropped, when the moment passed and when she gathered enough courage to go check for herself, she unfroze and bolted up the stairs, not knowing what dangers faced her in her own home.

The first thing Flora noticed was the bright light, she held her hand out to block it and grimaced, there was dust flying through the room and out the door, and a breeze that couldn't fit through the window was ever present. When her eyes adjusted to the light and when the dust cleared she gasped. Professor Layton's room was now reduced to rubble and standing before her now was a frowning phantom. He looked at her with condescending eyes (not that she could see them.) and spoke to her the same way.

"You're not Layton."

Flora passed out. When she woke up, she was at the hospital and standing before her was a whole group of worried people, Inspector Chelmey, Barton, Rosa, Emmy, Dean Delmona and even Professor Layton himself. Flora listened groggily as Professor Layton explained that the man that had crashed his bedroom wall was a scientist named Jean Descole, he was (as they all knew) looking for Layton, and, according to a witness, after Flora fainted, he looked around for a bit before leaving in his contraption. After Flora apologized for the Professor's bedroom being caved in for the 50th time and after she managed to convince everyone that she was okay, they all left to let her rest. Flora didn't think that she would ever see this Jean Descole again, but when she got up that morning and looked out the window, there he was, trying but failing to get into St. Mystere. Flora was surprised he didn't have a machine to knock down the front gate for him. Suddenly a realization dawned on her. She could tell off this guy for ruining her hard work! The idea excited Flora as she grabbed her coat and headed out.

**A/N:PLEASE READ! Let me explain a few things If you'll allow me. First of all. I'M SO SORRY! This was going to be a weekly series and I have the whole thing planned out but I just couldn't write this chapter down. Until I got inspiration from Skip Beat (cleaning part.) now next part. I read that responding to review's is no longer allowed. Son any questions please PM me. And as for anyone going "What the heck? Why Descole?" I picked him because when I first started planning this out I thought, okay what if one Of Layton's Rival's adopted Flora instead of him? And Descole seemed like the least creepy and best suited candidate. I know of three Rivals of Layton's and they are Descole, Don Paolo and Dimitri. If I picked Dimitri I could probably make A Clive/Flora thing go on there sure BUT it would be kind of boring and knowing me, I would just focus on Clive/Flora and not on the actual Plot. Don Paolo would probably be too much of a Pedophile or even MORE protective of Flora than Layton is (If that's possible). So…yeah, Descole was the only one available anyway I'm going to stop before this becomes longer than the story itself. (Begins brooding in silence. Then goes to have Iced Tea and feels better.)**


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